Retail inflation falls to 4.31% in September, gives room to RBI for more rate cut

NEW DELHI: For the second month in a row, India’s retail inflation slowed in September led by cooling food prices, official data released on Thursday showed.

Retail inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price in September was 4.31% compared with 5.05% in August and 6.07% in July. The decline is attributed to a moderation in food inflation which was 3.88% in the month compared with 5.91% last month.

For the first time in the current fiscal year is retail inflation less than the 5% target set by the Reserve Bank of India for 2016-17.

Data released by the statistics office showed that sugar and confectionery became dearer by 25.77% while pulses inflation came in at 14.33%. Clothing and footwear inflation was 5.19%. Fuel inflation was 3.07%.

Thursday's data comes days after industrial production fell more than expected for the second month running in August, pulled down by a sharp decline in capital goods and muted mining activity because of the monsoon.